Volume 28, Number 6 - JUNE 1998

JUNE MEETING

MEETING DAY CHANGE

The meeting is on the third Friday this month, June 19. The topic for the meeting will be Field Day which starts June 27. There will be videos of past Field Days and hopefully, people will have a few stories to tell.

Board Proposes 1998 Budget

Treasurer Shel N6RD proposed a working budget for 1998 earlier in the year, based upon historical data and expected changes to that data (one example: the cost of toilets for the Field Day site has doubled). Across several of its ensuing meetings, the Board came to an agreement for a budget based on actual cash flow in Q1 plus proposed/anticipated expenses/income for the balance of the year. This budget is presented here, and it will be presented at the next club meeting for discussion and approval. Keep in mind that a budget reflects only known costs and expenses; though the year there are myriad miscellaneous expenses (and, occasionally, some income) that can not be predicted, nor can it fully allow for unknown rises in costs at some future time.

FIELD DAY!

In the absence of a major disaster this is the one day of the year when we can show our stuff. There is no better opportunity to attract new members.

I am sure Jack will mention it in his President's Corner and Mike will have a lot to say about it. We need help.

Starting on June 23 a lot of equipment has to be moved from various sites to a holding area.

On Friday, June 26, the equipment has to be moved from the holding area to the Field Day site and installed, erected, and adjusted.

On Saturday, after some last minute tweaking, Field Day begins and runs through midday Sunday. Operators are needed -- all kinds.

In the meantime, there is a whole support effort going on: Food must be purchased, taken to the site, and prepared for the picnic supper on Saturday night.

CALENDAR

Livermore Swap Meet - 1st Sunday of each month at Las Positas College in Livermore, 7:00 AM to noon, all year. Talk in 147.045 from the west, 145.35 from the east. Contact Noel Anklam, KC6QZK, (510) 447-3857 eves.

Foothill Flea Market - 2nd Saturday of each month from March to October at Foothill College, Los Altos Hills.

CLUB INFORMATION

President: Jack Eddy, WA6YJR
Treasurer: Shel Edelman, N6RD
Secretary: Martin Liberman, KD6WJW
Training Officer: Paul Zander, AA6PZ
Radio Officer: Mikel Lechner, KN6QI
Newsletter: David Wilkes, KD6WRG

Board members: Dirk Thiele, KE6ZUY; Dick, N6ATD; Hans, KE6TGA; Martin, KD6WJW; Herb, KF6BKL

K6YA Station Trustee: Stan Kuhl, K6MA

FARS Web Page: www.fars.k6ya.org
FARS announcement mailing list is moderated, so you cannot reply directly to the list. To subscribe, send the word "subscribe" to: emarc-request@ham.yak.net; For help, send the word "help" to majordomo@ham.yak.net; For human assistance, email to: human@ham.yak.net.

The FARS Relay is the official monthly newsletter of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society Meetings are held at 7 PM on the fourth Friday of each month except January (Winter Banquet); and 3rd Friday in June, Nov. & Dec. Annual membership $20; family $25. Visitors are always welcome! Directions on the back page. Talk-in: W6APZ (145.23-, 100Hz) or W6ASH repeater (145.27 or 224.36). Contributions to the newsletter from members, family, and guests are earnestly solicited! Contributions subject to editing and/or compression. ASCII files via packet, Internet or diskettes preferred; but all readable forms welcome. Here are the various ways to reach the editor:

Packet: KD6WRG@N0ARY.#NOCAL.CA
Internet: dwilkes@svpal.org, davewilkes@aol.com

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

By the time you read this field day will be one week away and I hope that I will see many of you there. We need a lot of hands to make this field day work. We will be using part of this next meeting (which is on the third Friday this month) to organize for field day. If you haven't said yes to helping this will be your chance. If you do not sign up you are still welcome to come to the site and help in any way you can for however long as you can.

I also want to discourage the giving of phone numbers over the repeater. We have had two cases of numbers being used to make crank calls and we can really do without this.

We are still looking for some more help with the Thursday night net. This is a good opportunity get some experience running a net . There will be a picnic at 5 P.M. on Saturday the 27th at the field day site. The club will furnish the meat, buns and drinks. If you come and haven't signed up to bring anything please bring salad, desert, or a hot dish.

Hope to see you all at the meeting and if not there at Field Day.

AMATEUR RADIO NEWSLINE

Check out the complete Amateur Radio Newsline homepage featuring an archive of over 300 scripts, information about Newsline such as history, phone numbers to record Newsline audio, where to submit stories, and more being added.

NFCC reacts to LMCC

Hamvention '98 opened on Friday May 15th, with two issues paramount on the minds of hams attending. One of these is the attempt by the Land Mobile Communications Council to grab away most of the heavily trafficked 70 centimeter amateur band for reallocation into commercial service. This is outlined in FCC Rule Making request 9267.

Most of the hams that Newsline spoke with know that RM 9267 is a harbinger of things to come. They are convinced that no ham radio frequency on HF, VHF or UHF is safe. Speaking at an open meeting of the National Frequency Coordinators Council at Hamvention '98, the organizations president Dick Isley, W9GIG, said its time for ham radio to put in an early warning system that will put these commercial interests on the defensive:

"I would like to see the amateur community get organized to the point that, I'm going to coin a phrase. The Amateur Radio Spectrum Allocation are like the National Parks. They are not to be commercially exploited. With a mandate from congress.

Now, that doesn't mean that a lobbyist cannot go to congress and ask to amend it later, but at least we have an early warning system in place. Instead of being faced with a rulemaking that pops up in three weeks and there is a deadline for comments three weeks later." Dick Isley, W9GIG

Isley is among numerous repeater coordinators who believe its time to take a pro-active stand in fighting the LMCC and other potential spectrum grabs.

LMCC vs. Emergency Comms reaction

Hams involved in emergency communications are also reacting with extreme displeasure to a proposal by the Land Mobile Communications Council to take away most of the 70 centimeter band from hams and reallocate it to commercial use. One ham says that any such reallocation will mean a major loss of vital assistance to the general public in time of need:

"Vina, victor india November alpha - quarter inch hail."

"Roger quarter inch hail in Vina, W4CV Birmingham weather." That's one example of communications that could be affected by the Land Mobile Communications Council's proposal, radio amateurs in Alabama using the 440 MHZ band to relay severe weather reports between two cities in Alabama.

The Council's push to have 20 MHZ of amateur spectrum in the 440 MHZ band reallocated does not go over well with people who depend on the band for Skywarn and other emergency communications. The council wants the frequencies for what it calls "additional spectrum needs." And while the group says radio amateurs could keep use of the bands on a secondary basis, no mention is made of how that arrangement might work.

"I'm very concerned about it. And if this goes through it will certainly affect emergency communications." Rex Free, KN4CI

Rex Free, KN4CI, is head of North Alabama Skywarn group that uses the 440 MHZ band to relay spotter reports to the National Weather Service.

"In our situation, UHF is very critical. It is the link, it is what we use. The UHF frequencies is what we use to link repeaters together. What we use with Birmingham 80 miles away, it virtually links from Birmingham to north Alabama which is over a 100 mile span of emergency communications. And all of that is on UHF. And if these rulings affect our frequencies, it is going to severely curtail our ability in helping out in emergency communications and being able to link to each other." Rex Free, KN4CI

In Alabama, UHF frequencies are being used more and more for emergency communications. With lives possibly hanging in the balance, hams here believe that's too important a reason to share the space with non-amateur users.

Hams involved in emergency communications say that its only your letters to the FCC that will put an end to this latest attempted spectrum grab by the LMCC.

Hams exempt from coming CB law

In other news, hams have won a total exclusion from a new local jurisdiction CB radio enforcement bill before the United States Senate. This is a measure that will give state, city and other local governments the power to enforce federal regulations over 11 meter CB radio operators and the interference that they cause.

Senate Bill 608 was introduced by Wisconsin Senator Russell Feingold. The original version had no protection for hams, so the ARRL met with Senator Feingold to hammer out new wording.

The measure, as redrafted totally exempts Amateur Radio from its provisions. It was then presented as an amendment into Senate Bill 1618. That's the Consumer Anti-Slamming Act which was approved May 12th.

It's not yet known if or when the entire bill will come up for a vote in the House of Representatives. Feingold introduced the original version nearly two years ago. This, after receiving complaints from his constituents of massive interference and the FCC's failure to act.

With thanks to the AMSAT, the ARRL, Fists, the Hudson Loop, the R.S.G.B. and our friends at the Dayton Hamvention, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. You can write to us at:

Newsline, P.O.Box 660937, Arcadia, California 91066
Our webpage address is: www.arnewsline.org
Our e-mail address is: newsline@ix.netcom.com

Newsline is copyright 1998 & All rights are reserved.

(Visitors always welcome)

FARS meets at the Covington School District building, 201 Covington Road, Los Altos. Take the El Monte exit (The same exit as for the Foothill Fleamarket) off of I-280 and go East on El Monte. Cross Foothill Expressway and turn right at the next light on to Covington (Note Saint William church on corner). Stay to your left as the road forks. Just past the fork, turn left into the school parking lot. Walk through the center hallway and turn right. The meeting room is the first door on the left. Talk in on 145.23 or 145.27, negative offset, 100 PL.